Night fishing

i like to catfish at night period.... moonlight or not. for me it's more comfortable when the moon is out and a little lighter. but for some reason i seem to catch alot more fish when it is a very dark night!

I like fishing at night with a bright moon

i like the full moon because its easyer too see but i cant tell any difference in the fish bitting.

I seem to catch more fish on the darker nights, but I also enjoy going on a night when there is enough moonlight to see good.
There is an interesting thread "Moon Phases" started by Jim under general catfishing that you may want to read, too.

it doesnt really matter about the light to me as long as it's dark out. Ive never had much luck fishing for cats during the daylight hours.

Seems like to me, the fish bite best the 2 or 3 days before a new moon. I really don't go by that though, as I fish whenever I get the chance. I used to follow those "Solunar" tables when I was a kid, but it has been so many years now I don't even remember what all that was about. There are several really good threads about this on the old site. You might try doing a search or just hang on and I am sure that you will have a lot of knowledgable responses pretty soon.

For Mendota, CA a Bright moon means an off day fishing. When the moon is high, typically the bite either comes late after it has started to set, or not at all.

The darker the better for me, always seem to get more hits when its dark out.

Hey Canepole, I believe the darker the better. The little fishies can't see in the dark and cats can. They can "see" things with their whiskers and sonar. They can detect the "signal" of sonar impulses like a submarine.
Cats don't like to chase stuff, they like to sneak up on it and grab it. Sometimes they like to play around with it for awhile, like foreplay. The reason they like it real dark is so the little fishie won't see them coming. If they do, they might run away.

I have to say the darker the better in my opinion, but then what do I know?

I never really paid much attention to the moon(not when it came to cats)I just like being out there...lol.I have had luck with half moons to no moon at all,but the biggest fish i caught to date was right on the edge of dark. :know-big:

The really dark night tend to catch the bigger fish , then the full moon times.

well canepole, heres another response for ya... I went out tonight just alittle before sunset, and stayed for about 4 1/2 hours.. or untill i could'nt see my poles.. in that time i had several bites, and came home with a fine mess of channelcat...and untill i made my way back to the truck, i did'nt realize that the moon was almost full...(forgot my lantern.lol) anyway, in answer to your question, i'd say i like bright moonlit nights so i can find my way in and out of where i'm fishing.. but i don't think it has much bearing on how the fish bite..i may be wrong, but i seem to have just as much luck with a moon as without...

well canepole, heres another response for ya... I went out tonight just alittle before sunset, and stayed for about 4 1/2 hours.. or untill i could'nt see my poles.. in that time i had several bites, and came home with a fine mess of channelcat...and untill i made my way back to the truck, i did'nt realize that the moon was almost full...(forgot my lantern.lol) anyway, in answer to your question, i'd say i like bright moonlit nights so i can find my way in and out of where i'm fishing.. but i don't think it has much bearing on how the fish bite..i may be wrong, but i seem to have just as much luck with a moon as without...

Doesn't matter to me. I'll fish either and catch the fire out of 'em on dip baits. It is convenient having the moon shining bright so you can see better. I can't tell a difference in the bite from one moon phase to the next, they are still on fire, course we are using chum. God bless.

I like to fish a night with no moon. Never caught a fish when I point out theres a full moon. Sure its posible though.

Abilene , I feel the same way you do, I think the cats do alot better on a real dark nite, I like it to be real dark with alot of activity on the water.
When the moon is shining bright it seems like I don't do to good.

I think the bite is better when there is a new moon but a full moon sure does make running a river much easier.

Yanno, the more I've thought about it..

I can recall my best nights catfishing being clear nights with no moon, when the air temp fell below the water temp causing a slight hazy fog to roll across the water.

Just make sure on nights like this you keep all your tackle bags and boxes and anything else you value closed or covered. If not everything gets misted over from the fog and stuff starts rusting.